The first time you install and use an Office program, you are asked for your user name and initials in a dialog box that looks similar to this:

Your name and initials will be associated with any Office document that you create and will appear in places like comments, revisions, and general document properties. You can enter anything you like, but it’s a good idea to consider who you might be sharing documents with, or reviewing documents for, when choosing a user name. Most people simply use their first and last name.

In the Options dialog box, change your user name and initials in the Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office section.

Note: Excel 2010 uses only a user name, not initials.

In an open document, click the Office button
, and then click the Options button at the bottom of the menu.

Notes:

In OneNote, click the Tools menu, and then click Options.

In Project and Visio, click the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.

In the dialog box, change your user name and initials in the User Name and Initials boxes. The dialog box that you see may appear different from the example below, depending on the Office program you’re using.

Note: Excel 2007 uses only a user name, not initials.

Prevent a program from asking for user name and initials

You should see the User Name dialog box only once—the first time you open a newly installed Office program. However, if you see this dialog box every time you open a program, you may be able to stop this from happening by changing permissions in the registry.

Warning: This procedure contains steps that tell you how to modify your computer's registry. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Make sure to follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. To learn how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

From the Windows Start screen in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista, type regedit.exe in the Search box, and then press Enter.